Family members and kinship (lesson 6)
buwa, aamaa, didi, daai, bhaai, bahini — the relations every tourist hears at a homestay. Plus the kinship-as-address custom.
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FSI 1979, lesson 6. The longest lesson in the early sequence — Nepali kinship is precise and worth the time. Core terms: buwa (father), aamaa (mother), daai (older brother), didi (older sister), bhaai (younger brother), bahini (younger sister), hajurbuwa / hajurAamaa (grandparents). The lesson then teaches what every traveler learns by accident: Nepali uses these kinship terms to address strangers too. The middle-aged woman at the shop is 'didi'. The older man at the teahouse is 'daai'. This is not slang — it's the social default. Around minute 18 the lesson covers the in-law system (sasuraa, sasu) which is dense — skim if your trip is short.
Attribution
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